Parents are concerned with the health of their children and especially infants. Infants and young children are very susceptible to infections that could lead to severe problems. Since children at very young ages cannot tell the parent when and why they do not feel well, parents and medical personnel relay on breath or temperature monitoring as an early warning indicator.
Since the neck of an infant is not yet fully developed, bone and muscle strength in the infant's neck is typically not strong enough to support the infant's head. Numerous incidents have been found that incorrect breathing postures by an infant can cause bone or even brain damages to the infant, and in some severe instances even death of the infant. The aforementioned breathing danger due to an infant's incorrect breathing posture may become even more acute when a care-giver of the infant is not paying attention to the infant. Therefore there is a need to determine an incorrect breathing posture engaged in by an infant and notify the care-giver of such.
One important key to an infant's health is maintaining an infant's body temperature within a certain data range. A high body temperature beyond a certain data range may be undesirable. The third leading cause of death among infants 1 month to 1 year in age is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the unexpected death of an infant typically under 1 year old, without explicable cause. While SIDS has no symptoms and provides no indication, parents can follow some precautionary measures to help minimize the possibility that their child may afflicted. One precautionary measure now being advocated by doctors is preventing a sleeping infant's body temperature from rising too high and/or too rapidly.
An abnormally low body temperature is equally undesirable. Because an infant contains less body fat than an adult, certain ambient temperatures that may be comfortable for an adult may be too cold for an infant. This would leave the infant uncomfortable which may lead to the infant crying and screaming. Furthermore, a low body temperature may also be indicative of a sickness.
Besides infant care, certain adults may need extended care to prevent hazards to their health. Typically, when hospitalized, adults may be given care through non-stop monitoring using hospital-grade equipment. However, hospital type of care is not possible while the adults are situated in home or long term care facilities. Nevertheless, non-stop monitoring of various vital signs such as breathing patterns, body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, etc. is still very desirable even when those adults are not hospitalized.